[Asterisk-Users] Getting netmeeting to work with Asterisk

[Simon J Mudd]

jj at indie.org (Jeremy McNamara) writes:

> Simon J Mudd wrote:
> 
> >Hi Dan,    [and thanks for bearing with me]
> >
> >I'm going to top post partly as I may be making a mistake in my
> >assumptions.  I've been mentioning using NM with h323 and editing the
> >/etc/asterisk/h323.conf and you mention oh323.  Perhaps I've been
> >doing the wrong thing or am trying to configure the wrong "module".
> >
> chan_h323 is the only H.323 channel driver that is distributed with
> Asterisk. There is a third party H.323 driver that some ppl allegedly
> have gotten to work, but the main reason why I wrote chan_h323 was
> because of the many many many many (lets call them) issues with that
> other driver.

ok. That makes things clearer. Thanks for pointing this out. Seeing
two apparently similar modules confused me as I hadn't realised that
there were indeed 2 different h323 modules available.

> >I specifically compiled from asterisk/channels/h323 and followed the
> >instructions there copying over chan_h323.so and the required pwlib
> >and h323 lib files to /usr/lib. The make install copies over h323.conf
> >to /etc/asterisk (not oh323.conf).
>
> ?!?!?!?!  I don't know what instructions your looking at, but if you
> would have followed the README in asterisk/channels/h323 you wouldn't
> have had to copy the lib files over. Now you have to remember to move
> them into that same directory if you ever update Open H.323 and/or
> PWlib. RTFM

I did RTFM, but I've downloaded via cvs both asterisk, pwlib, h323
(which I was using with vocal) and they were in a user directory.
Using the LD_LIBRARY_PATH as you explain appears to be rather a hack.
I wasn't sure WHY you frown so heavily on the vendor/distribution
pwlib/h323 libraries (do they change that much or are different
versions incompatible?) and as I hadn't installed these as packaged
libraries I [safely] copied them to /usr/lib.

That said, as you have a safe_asterisk command, you could modify it to
pick up the paths from a configuration file rather than using the
LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable [or use ASTERISK_LIBRARY_PATH for
example.]

Perhaps it was simply that the _reason_ for performing the
chan_h323.so install this way was not explained which lead me to
install the way I did.

> 
> >Currently h323.conf has only:
> >
> >[general]
> >port = 1720
> >bindaddr = 0.0.0.0
> >
> >[laptop]
> >type=friend
> >host=192.168.0.2
> >context=h323
> >incominglimit=6
> >outgoinglimit=4
> >
> >Should perhaps the context be changed to default to allow incoming
> >calls to Asterisk from this NM client?

Thanks. I hadn't realised that the [general] section needed a context
and indeed when I had added context=default to [laptop] * didn't pick
up the call. With this change it does now accept calls.

> You can build the dialplan however you want.   Since you do not have a
> context keyword in the general section you will need to have user
> entries for every H.323 ID you want to use on your system.  Now, if
> you had a context in the general section it would send any
> non-matching users to whatever context you specified.
> 
> Also it is worth stating that chan_h323 doesn't have a definition of a
> 'peer', so a friend here really only means user. (thus outgoinglimit
> does nothing)

ok.  The demo dialplan gives a better idea of what can be done, my
biggest problem has been a failure to see where all the pieces fit together.

> I did submit documentation for chan_h323 but it seems it has not made
> it into the Asterisk handbook, yet.

The version 1 handbook isn't bad. It gives a good idea of what is
possible but it also assumes that people start playing with hardware
to plug into asterisk.  I plan on doing that but first want to play
without the hardware first.

Well thanks I can now dial out to NM on from the console, an dial in
to * from NM. I just don't hear the audio so I need to work out why.

thanks for your help and feedback.

Simon
-- 
Simon J Mudd, Postfix RPM Packager, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
email: sjmudd at pobox.com, Tel: +31-627-592 627, http://postfix.WL0.org